A sad thing happened here...

[juliew19673]

AngelnSnuffy wrote:

If your mom wants to do this again, he said to get a turkey, they'll chase anyone off your property.

This animal the "Turkey" is one of the BEST guard animals I've ever come across! Their mean and stupid, and very territorial (had to protect myself when we had them on the farm when I went to the barn as they would always try to bite you and they were SO loud!).

I'm sure there is someone that has had or has a loving one - but again VERY good guard animals on a farm..

Again, so sorry for this devistation to your folks... How are they doing? Any word on what may have happened?

 

[gentle giants]

Well, likeI said, not real likely that the police will pay much attention around here. As for the geese chasing them off-they might be able to with a raccoon or possum, but a coyote would laugh at a goose trying to chase him. He would be more likely to jsut open his mouth and wait for the goose to run in.

We used to have a pair of turkeys, they are funny! The tom was all tough so long as your back was turned, but if you just looked him in the eye he would go all casual like, "Oh, hey, what is this interesting thing over here...?" and walk off like he had no interest in you whatsoever. The hen of the pair was very sweet and friendly for years--until her tom died of heatstroke one summer. It took both me and my dad to carry him away (he was enormous!!) and after that, she would always bite us. I think she thought we killed him. She lived to something like four or five years, which is pretty impressive for a Broad Breasted Bronze, her breed, as they were bred to be eaten before they get to be a year old. They tend to get so huge so fast that they have leg problems, or their hearts jsut can't take the strain. I think Delilah wieghed somethinglike 45 pounds when she died, and the tom even more.

This thread is really depressing, isn't it? Sorry guys.

 

[BSAR]

:shock:That is so awful! I can't imagine how I would feel if chickens of mine were attacked and left there in a pile. That is so creepy. I would be guessing that it was a human also. I don't think anything else could have done that. I am sorry for you mom's loss.

 

[Bunnicula]

gentle giants wrote:

This thread is really depressing, isn't it? Sorry guys.

Not depressing, more like distressing - hard to believe that a person could do that if that is what happened.

Don't be sorry. There are so many posts here because we all share your heartache and want to find some way to let you know.

Hugs,

~Mary Ellen

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

It's sad, but not depressing. I think if you feel like it, you should talk about it here. How is your mom doing? Is she dealing okay?

 

[pinksalamander]

My Nan has kept chickens for years.. until she gave up because its just too much hassle. She must have had about 4 or 5 groups at different times. I doubt that it was a person (depending on where you live) but foxes in the UK are notorious for simply killing chickens, and never really eating them which is why so many people get annoyed with them.. its not like they're killing them because they are starving its just like a dog would play with a little animal.

Sorry to hear about this, i remember going out into my Nan's garden and just seeing feathers everywhere. Doves too, they used to kill any dove they could get on the ground. I suppose thats one of the big problems with living in the country! And since the fox hunting ban the population is growing so rapidly.

 

[bat42072]

I think it sounds human to me... a wild animal wouldn't pile them up ...

 

[juliew19673]

gentle giants wrote:

There were two that survived the attack, a banty pair that was in a big rabbit hutcha few feet from the main house. Ironic that the bigger chickens picking on them ended up saving their lives, huh?

I love the Banta chickens - we had 4 that were just pets; so cute; funny that our chickens picked on them too - I always thought they egg laying chickens were jealous the bantas..

Glad to hear that something survived..

 

[pinksalamander]

Sorry, i totally glossed over that point!


bat42072 wrote:

I think it sounds human to me... a wild animal wouldn't pile them up ...

 

[gentle giants]

Mom is doing ok, but she has decided that we are not getting any more poultry of any kind until we can build a much stronger, harder to break into building. It's just not worth the risk of raising them and getting attached and all jsut to have them killed again.

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

Was the chicken house locked? How did they get in?

 

[gentle giants]

AngelnSnuffy wrote:

Was the chicken house locked? How did they get in?

Because the weather was warm, the door on the actual house was open, but there is a fairly solid pen built around the front of the house. The house is up on "legs" about two feet off the ground, and we have the pen around the front and heavy wood "sheets" (not sure what they are called, about twice as thick and three times as heavy as plywood) blocking off the underneath of the house and making the back of the pen. About half of oneof those sheets of wood was ripped/gnawed out, totally destroyed. So there was room for a pretty large animal to come in through it, and says that whatever did this was pretty determined. You would think, from the damage done to the wood, that they/it would have left some chunks of skin behind, too, or at least gotten really bad splinters. We can hope it caused them some pain, anyway. :X

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

gentle giants wrote:

AngelnSnuffy wrote:

Was the chicken house locked? How did they get in?

You would think, from the damage done to the wood, that they/it would have left some chunks of skin behind, too, or at least gotten really bad splinters. We can hope it caused them some pain, anyway. :X

We can hope anyway, jerks. Really gets to me why someone would be so determined, geez:?.

 

[GoinBackToCali]

I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in.. sorry I have not done so sooner.

We have coons and possums in our neck of the woods.

I have seen a few odd things concerning poultry..

One time we had them all piled up a good ways from the coop, heads missing. One time we had them all piled up in the corner, totally intact.

I can tell you that I have seen raccoons kill for the sheer sport of killing..and not eat them,sometimes , you can just scare the heck out of a chicken and they drop dead. Many a time I have seen kids have to show dead carcasses..chickens are easy to keel over. Due to the fact that I have seen racoons hunt in packs (and yes I know this firsthand..I have caught them in my barn, needless to say.. thats one pack of racoons that don't exist anymore)...ANYWAY.. racoons do hunt in packs, and corral birds.. and I have seen them throw them in piles. I would like to think a human isn't responsible for this heinous crime, and it honestly has the markings of some country come to town racoons, but you just never know. A Pack of racoons working together would explain the lack of noise from the birds.. and if you've never seen.. or killed a full grown racoon.. they can easily get to be 25 to 30 lbs. I have killed some that size. So in that case, it could carry off a goose.

As for Turkeys.. they are usually good noisy watchdogs, but so are goats..BUT, we had show turkeys rounded up and killed by a racoon pack as well.. so nothing is really a sure thing.

I am so sorry this happened to you, and I am sorry to be so blunt.. but it really may not actually be humans..just bored racoons.

Z

 

[trailsend]

I have to say Zin is right. I've seens the coons here and the fishers, and the foxes even do crazy things, and have had plently of local people share experiences. One guy had his ducks buried alive by raccoons, they were in such a hurry to do it. It's never any fun and I know how this feels - I've had my fair share of poultry troubles too, and all our birds are pets as well... it's never fun to loose any.

 

[cheryl]

Geez how awful...i just couldn't imagine having to see something like that,it would stick with me for a long time.

I'm sorry for your family

~Cheryl

 

[GoinBackToCali]

Just a quick note... racoons can find the smallest of holes in the oddest of places, and exploit it..

They are also pretty stealthy and nimble... I would even look towards the roof for a hole.. I have seen it before...

 

[juliew19673]

Wow! Never would have even thought of racoons doing that but they are very "smart" devious little creatures. I grew up in Oregon and we had 2 that came into our backyard and dessimated our hot tub on a number of occassions; they were even brazen about it - they would come up to our door and knock as if to say "we here to mess with your stuff"!

At least now, I feel a little better that perhaps it was an animal and not some crazed human.. Thanks Zin for restoring my faith in mankind..

 

[GoinBackToCali]

I have a bakers rack with plants on it right by my backdoor..on numerous occassions the doorknob has been rattled..so we get up, baseball bats and swords in hand.. to find a racoon sitting on the rack trying to look nonchalant..

 

[gentle giants]

Oh, I agree about the raccoons. Thankfully, we haven't had the whole pack situation happen here (yet!) but I've read news articles about packs carrying off/killing people's dogs and even attacking people. I don't think this particular case is raccoons, though, the coon population here is actually pretty low this year andwe have hardly seen any. We have been having severe coyote problems, though, including obviously sick ones coming up very close to the house. Our house, that is, not the chicken's house. That's why I am betting it was them.

It just seems like the wildlife around here has been acting so bizarre latley. We have even had possums come and kill chickens recently! Not just one possum, either, because we made sure the first one did not repeat his offense. It got to where we would set a live trap in the hosue every night before dark, and when we would check it before bed we would always have a possum in it. It's jsut crazy.


Edit to add: Cali, you really have swords in case of burglars? :shock::biggrin2: